Brian Moynihan

Bank of America Corp. eked out a $340-million profit for the third quarter after recording $1.6 billion in legal expenses, but analysts say the bank has much more work ahead before it can resolve the headaches that have plagued it since the financial crisis. The latest litigation costs, disclosed in a third-quarter financial report, stem from a $2.4-billion settlement of lawsuits over BofA's takeover of brokerage giant Merrill Lynch in 2008. The settlement, announced Sept. 28, was with investors who contended BofA knew Merrill was in worse financial shape than it revealed at the time.

Bank of America Corp., which handles customer service on about 15% of U.S. home loans, has accounted for 30% of the mortgage complaints logged by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to a new database made public by the federal watchdog. The level of customer discontent - far greater than at home-lending rivals Wells Fargo & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. - reflects BofA's struggles since its 2008 acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corp. in Calabasas. Countrywide had become the No. 1 mortgage firm by specializing in subprime and other high-risk loans.

In a year when Bank of America's stock plunged 58% and the company announced plans to lay off 30,000 employees, chief executive Brian Moynihan's compensation package more than quadrupled to nearly $8.1 million. Here's why: In 2011, the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank recorded $1.4 billion in profit after losing $2.2 billion the year before. So far this year, the stock is up more than 70%. So although the bank's compensation and benefits committee kept Moynihan's salary the same at $950,000, he also landed $6.1 million in performance-reliant stock.

Ending a tangled succession process, Bank of America Corp. named its retail banking chief, Brian Moynihan, on Wednesday to be its new chief executive. He will assume the CEO post Jan. 1, succeeding Kenneth D. Lewis, who came under fire for his decision last year to acquire weakened Wall Street giant Merrill Lynch & Co. in a deal that required the bank to accept one of the largest infusions of federal bailout funds. Moynihan, 50, was elected unanimously by the board of the Charlotte, N.C., company after directors spent months considering other internal candidates, notably Chief Risk Officer Gregory L. Curl, as well as star bankers from other institutions.

Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Brian Moynihan shuffled his management team, ousting two top executives as the embattled banking giant faces a plummeting stock price and mounting legal woes. Moynihan on Tuesday announced the departure of Sallie Krawcheck, the bank's head of global wealth and investment management, and Joe Price, president of consumer and small-business banking. Both were top lieutenants to former CEO Kenneth Lewis, who resigned in October 2009. Krawcheck, one of the most powerful women on Wall Street and a former top executive at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. and Citigroup Inc., was hired by Lewis in 2009, toward the end of his tenure at Bank of America.

Bank of America Corp.'s chief executive is out to convince Wall Street that he's finally bringing under control the financial disaster caused by the bank's acquisition of mortgage goliath Countrywide Financial Corp. Brian Moynihan, who took the helm at the nation's biggest bank in late 2009, has had the unrelenting task of cleaning up an institution in such financial disrepair that the bank needed $45 billion in federal bailouts to stay in business. The Charlotte, N.C., bank posted an $8.8-billion second-quarter loss Tuesday as it continued to deal with the aftermath of the housing bust.

Millions of Californians remain stuck in the state's increasingly expensive rental markets, unable to buy homes as they deal with tight credit markets and damage to their finances from the Great Recession. Sounds like a mess fit for two of the nation's most prominent turnaround specialists - California Gov. Jerry Brown, fresh off his state budget-balancing act, and Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Brian Moynihan, still engaged in resurrecting that institution from the mortgage meltdown.

John G. Stumpf, chief executive of Wells Fargo & Co., made more than any banker in America last year - $22.87 million. Stumpf's pay package, disclosed Thursday, was up 15% from 2011, an increase Wells said reflected the San Francisco-based bank's strong performance. Wells earned $18.9 billion, up 19% from 2011, during a year in which big banks collectively turned in near-record profits. The runner-up at $21 million - a 75% increase - was Lloyd C. Blankfein, CEO of New York's Goldman Sachs Group, whose pay has been notably lofty over the years.

Bank of America Corp. lost its title as the nation's biggest bank, and the mission for its beleaguered chief executive now is to convince Wall Street that it's better off for it. Brian Moynihan is tasked with turning around the company's struggling consumer empire just as rival JPMorgan Chase & Co. surpassed BofA's $2.2 trillion in assets. It marks the end of an era for a bank known for a near-obsessive zeal for acquisitions and growth, and the start of a new chapter in which the bank hopes to slim down to raise profitability.